Dear Santa, You probably remember that I wrote to you last year and asked for a return to the World Series for our KC Royals. Boy, did you and Rudolph deliver! I will never doubt you again! Yes Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus! A World Series Championship over those snobbish easterners from New York. Am I being too selfish to ask for a repeat this next year? Three straight appearances in the World Series would be sweet even WITHOUT Johnny Cueto!

DEAR SANTA...........You probably remember that I wrote to you last year and asked for a return to the World Series for our KC Royals. Boy, did you and Rudolph deliver! I will never doubt you again! Yes Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus! A World Series Championship over those snobbish easterners from New York. Am I being too selfish to ask for a repeat this next year? Three straight appearances in the World Series would be sweet even WITHOUT Johnny Cueto!

The NCAA, exhibiting their great wisdom, has now given us 40 bowl games, plus the National Championship. 41 more football games. Still, we cannot have a true national playoff in Big Boy football in the collegiate sport. That's because "we must look out for the interests of the college student/athlete, not make too many demands on their time." 41 Bowl games does that?

While looking for an egg under the Turkey that somehow escaped Thanksgiving dinner, I found a ... BASKETBALL! While we've all been busy with football and the Thanksgiving holiday the basketball season has exploded upon us. The college season is well underway and, this week, our high school teams tip it off. Here are a few things we've learned in this fledgling basketball season:

Coaches often preach of the importance of the first five minutes of a game or half. They also talk about the last five minutes of each. It was those final five minutes that proved the difference for the Barton men's basketball team Wednesday night.

Earlier this year the Golden Belt Community Foundation established the Barton County Pool Grant and Endowment Funds (Funds) as a way to provide long-term support to youth swim programs in Barton County, as well as to help support the indoor pool at Barton Community College. Thanks to community members helping to build the Funds, area youth will benefit from the first grant.